Those Distant Bells
by IoIngridWeaver
Summary: You can hear those distant bells; and you know they'll never leave. This is the story of Erica Reyes and Stiles Stilinski. It has a beginning, a middle and an end. A rising, a climax, a fall, and a resolution. It is not a love story where everyone lives happily ever after. It is a story where a Catwoman can't and refuses to even try to live without her Batman.


_This is the story of Erica Reyes and Stiles Stilinski. It has a beginning, a middle and an end. A rising, a climax, a fall, and a resolution. It is not a love story where everyone lives happily never after. Rather it is the story of a girl turned wolf whose love for the awkward best friend of Scott McCall affected everything and everyone in her life. This does not have a happy ending. And no one truly wind. Rather there is peace and an understanding only the two of them know. This is the story of Erica and Stiles. This is not a fairy tale. People are hurt, lives end, sacrifices are made, promises broken, and it is a world where a Catwoman can't and refuses to even try to live without her Batman. _

When Erica was small and bullied and alone she remembers the day he reached out and took her hand in school to help her up after a seizure. He is the only one who even tries to touch he. He asks if she is alright and when she nods he gives her a smile that blinds her like the sun and then leaves to go play with Scott McCall. It is only for a moment but suddenly Erica Reyes does not feel so alone. Maybe that is when it starts. But she knows from that moment on nothing is the same. Ever again.

When she becomes a wolf due to one Derek Hale Erica becomes something she always wished she was. Now she is on par with Lydia Martin and she thinks she may actually stand a chance. She is wrong. He barely spares her a glance except to ask if she is okay. This is not what she wants from him. So she snarls at him instead.

When he saves her Erica soon begins to see more clearly what she has always seen and what everyone else ignores. Stiles is better than all of them. He is human and yet he saves the wolves from the Kanima and knows more than anyone gives him credit for. He is her Batman and when he calls her his Catwoman something inside of her breaks. Does he not know what he had done now? The roles he has given them will someday break them apart. Selina Kyle and Bruce Wayne are never together or get a happy ending. Something always tears them apart just as they are so close to getting what they need and deserve. But the more she thinks about it the more she smiles slightly and thinks that it is alright. Because Batman and Catwoman may not end up together in the end but everything in-between is makes up for it all. And because no matter how hard she tries Catwoman never truly leaves Batman. They are always thrown together and are never truly apart for long. So she can deal with this. Does he know what he has done? He will never be free of her now.

Her chance finally comes when the Alpha Pack comes and soon she and Stiles are thrown together on patrol and research and everything else she can think of to do together. And slowly but surely she breaks down his walls and lowers hers willingly until it ends with them in bed just the way she wants. She is his first and he is hers. And when it ends in a cry and a tidal wave of emotions he holds her and whispers sweet nothings in her ear. And when he finally sleeps and she looks down on him deep in her heart she can pretend this will last forever; even though in her hearts of hearts she knows it never will.

Six months. Six glorious months of Stiles. Of kissing, and cuddling, helping, holding, talking, and simply being with Stiles. She ignores the path and Stiles becomes the centre of her universe. Derek tries to talk some sense into her but it is not that simple. She has loved Stiles since she was three and now at seventeen he thinks she is about to stop? Right when she is finally in his inner circle and in his arms and higher up the ladder than stupid Lydia Martin? Derek has another thing coming. But like all good things it comes to an end. But when she looks back later in life, aside from the births of her children and the subsequent times with them, she knows without a doubt those six months were when she was happiest in life. Happier than her wedding and anniversary and similar events. Yes the threat of death was constantly fluttering over their heads but it was just her and Stiles and that stupid old Jeep. And she was truly and utterly happy. For the first time ever in her what seems like long life. And once it ends she knows she will spend the rest of her life trying to get those feelings back.

It ends when Scott is stabbed in the gut by Allison and Stiles spends the next seventy-two hours in the hospital without sleeping and showering and ignores all pleas to sleep or leave to pull himself together. Erica see it then. She curses herself for not seeing it sooner. She sees it in the way he paces and the way looks towards Deaton for help and the way he cries in the open and the helplessness in his eyes. She sees it when Scott wakes up and Stiles is the first one there aside from his mother and the way he stays with Scott through the first night and beyond. She finally sees the truth; Scott McCall is it for Stiles Stilinski. He is his other half and best friend. He is also the love of his life. And she does not know what hurts more. The fact that she did not see it or the fact that the love of her life already has one of his own and surprise, surprise it is not her.

Once Scott wakes up and Stiles can be pried away from his side she decides to end the silence and asks the question.

"You love him don't you?"

At first he tries to deny it but when he sees the determination in her eyes he nods and looks at her pleading for her to understand.

She sniffs and pushes back the tears. "Was I just a substitute then? Is that what I was?"

Immediately he surrounds her in his arms all the while frantically saying "No Erica." he then swallows and says, "I….I care about you more than I even though possible. But it's just I."

She understands then. Stiles did care about her. But just not enough. Scott will always come first. And she knows he will never ask her to stay when it is not fair to her. That is just the kind of guy he is.

So instead she lifts her head up, kisses him one last time, and then forces him to look at her when he tries to look away.

Stiles is a few inches taller than her when she wears her boots but now in normal runners he is much taller than she. Once there eyes meet she goes on her tip toes and kisses him one last time. She make it fierce and pours her soul into that kiss. He responds and after an eternity she pulls away.

She smiles and when he smiles back she knows he understands. She takes a step back and then says something that she has always wanted to say.

"I love you." she continues and interrupts him when it looks like he is about to say something. "I always have and I always will. I will be your friend and whatever else you need. But please don't push or ask me to go away. I will be whatever you want me to be. And I will wait. I love you Stiles Stilinski. And I will wait until the day you can say it back."

A moment pause and then he nods smiling at her. It is bittersweet when she turns to walk away. Like the poor sap she is she looks back and meets his eyes once more. It is bittersweet and like a punch to the gut. But still he smiles back at her, that smile she loves that lights up her world. She then turns and exit's the hospital. This time as she drives away she does not look back even as she cries her soul away.

As the days pass a question haunts Erica. What is worse; having the most happy days of our life ripped away from you or spending the rest of your life trying to get them back? It is one she hopes to never find out the answer to.

Scott heals and Stiles is Stiles and time passes. After the break up everyone expects things to go back to normal and in some ways it does. But in other ways it surprises them all. Stiles does not drive her away. Instead he draws her even deeper into his life. They talk and hang out and do everything they did before except no kissing or sex or anything of the such. She is constantly crashing at his house and he is cooking her supper and she helps him with chores. She makes him smile and is his friend. She made a promise she would wait and be whatever he needed her to be. He needs a friend. And so a friend she will be. And when Scott and Lydia begin to inch towards being something more she is the one who holds Stiles and stays with him throughout those longs nights. It may not be what she wants but it is enough. For now anyways.

Despite devoting most of her time to Stiles by the time graduation rolls around she and Boyd have developed into some kind of thing. They sleep together and train and do other couple stuff. It is not serious on her end. But apparently she is a better actress than she thinks because Boyd seems to think this entails them as a couple and as does everyone else in the pack. Erica want to correct him but soon she realizes that Stiles will be leaving for university while she stays behind. So she knows she has to wean herself off of him. So she stays with Boyd and when everyone else leaves after graduation and decides to enter a nearby police academy and Boyd goes into construction she says yes when he proposes. She thinks she can build a life when Stiles has no part or say in it. She is happy and is smiling and she thinks she could learn to love him. So later looks back and tries to ask herself who she was trying to fool more; herself or everyone else?

People try to ask her why she became a cop and she just tells them that she wanted to make a difference. She never tells them it is because Stiles showered her making a difference make her feel good and saving people and protecting them is something she is surprisingly good at. But mainly she does it in the hope that when and if Stiles does come back the streets will be safer with a werewolf patrolling them so that he can never be hurt like he was before. And working directly underneath his father who now is her closest link to Stiles aside from the daily texts and calls and emails takes some of the edge off that has been forming in the back of her mind. But she just tells herself that it is because he is a great teacher and a good man at his job. Again who is she trying to fool?

She and Boyd elope and are married before the first Christmas everyone comes back from university. She told Boyd she wanted it to be private but she knows in the back of her mind if she saw Stiles and was not a married woman it was likely she would never follow through. But the holiday passes in a blur and then everything comes crashing down when she discovers that Stiles is involved with DEREK HALE of all people. Derek followed him to LA where he is going for an education degree. The anger boils in her and soon Erica is refusing to talk to him or even look at him until he leaves. The anger boils over when she angrily has sex with Boyd and then she cuts off all contact with Stiles. But even though she says she will live without him in reality he is still very much in her life. She wears his old sweaters and has dinner with his father and sometimes sleeps in his old room when Boyd is away on business. She does her job and thinks of him when she saves someone or puts someone away. She tells herself she is living without him but looking back she knows that she can't even try because everywhere she turns and looks a memory comes forth from the recesses of her mind. So once more; who is she trying to fool?

Two years pass and Erica is shocked to discover one day on a routine checkup she is three weeks pregnant. She is pregnant. She has never wanted children and Boyd has never expressed a desire for it. But the more she thinks about it the more Erica becomes attached to the blob growing inside of her. And by the end of the week when she tells Boyd she also says he can stay and be a father or not let the door hit him on the way out. This is also the way she lets Stiles back into her life. After refusing to leave Beacon Hills for green pastures, as that would mean leaving behind her memories and the Sheriff and the places she had with Stiles, Erica tentatively calls him and leaves a message telling him the news. The next weekend Stiles shows up on her doorstep with a smile and presents galore telling her he will be the best uncle the kid has ever asked for. And it is then a part of her icy heart cracks. And from then on it is Stiles she calls when she has the first ultrasound and Stiles she sends the picture to. It is Stiles whom she chooses the color of the nursery with over Skype and the phone. And it is Stiles whom she wants beside her when she gives birth. And if she sees the hurt face on Boyd's face when she finally does go in labor and she begs for Stiles she pretends not to see it. And when they hand her the baby boy she has just spent delivering and she sees those golden eyes everything else fades away until Stiles shows up with Derek in tow six hours later. And as Stiles coos over her godson Erica simply smiles and shows Stiles what Derek can never give him. And in those precious few moments it is simply her and the two most important people in her life; Stiles and James Bruce Reyes. James after her grandfather who loved her and Bruce for the one singer whom Stiles and Erica could always agree on; the Boss himself. Aside from those six glorious months this is one of the happiest times in her life.

As Jamie grows and Stiles and the pack come back from school her life is happy once more when Jamie is two and she is pregnant once more. Erica is twenty-four and Stiles is with her and even if he is with Derek freaking Hale he is still her best friend and he is over for dinner every other day and Boyd is now working more while Erica works less as a Sheriff's deputy to be with Jamie and keep the baby she is carrying safe. And as her pregnancy passes Erica refuses to feel guilty when Boyd complains about her bond with Stiles and their lack of sex and time together. She cooks and cleans for him and does everything else a wife would do. She cares for him and has given him a son with mocha skin and stunning brown eyes. What more does he want from her. And when she goes into labor in the middle of a territory dispute with Boyd gone by her side and only Stiles and medical intern Lydia to help her through the labor in the back of Stiles' old jeep she curses Boyd for not being there when she needs him. But instead she grasps Stiles' hand and brings a second son into the world. Samuel Kyle Reyes is pale like Erica with dark black hair and hazel eyes. And as Stiles holds him Erica suddenly bursts into tears as she pushes out the afterbirth and continues to sob even as Stiles tries to hand her Sam. She cries until she can't many more and wonders why everything she has ever wanted is so close but so far away.

Erica loves Stiles even more when he baby-sits and helps her with the kids when he is not teaching at the local high school. Erica loves her children. Loves them more than she though possible. Loves them more than Stiles. She will kill for them and has killed and will always kill for them. True love has nothing on the love a mother has for her children. But she still loves Stiles. She lives to protect and love her children but she needs Stiles to breathe.

Jamie is a trouble maker while Sam is as silent as his father. Both have her temper and are her pride and joy and the light of her life and sometimes Erica wishes she never brought them into this mess. Both are born Betas and are naturals at turning. But now another pack has settled into the area and run in and battle are becoming a weekly occurrence. But are twenty-eight Erica wants nothing more than to take her children and flee when Boyd nearly loses an arm when someone attacks him on their doorstep. She has the bags packed and is loading the kids into the car when she gets the call. Strikes were made against them all and everyone was hit. The Sheriff is on the line saying Stiles is asking for her.

Erica makes it to the hospital and after making sure her boys are safe she races into the hospital room. Scott leaves the chair beside the bed for her to sit down. The room is soon empty and Stiles is hooked up to machines and his back is broken and she knows that she is going to loose him. He then smiled at her they sit in silence.

"I love you…you idiot. I love you more than my husband. I love you more than my dead beat parents. I love you almost as much as I love my children."

"I know." They continue to sit in silence.

And just before he closes his eyes in order to sleep he whispers, "I finally figured it out you know." He swallows before he continues as his voice dies and his eyes close. "My love for Heathcliff resembles the eternal rocks beneath: a source of little visible delight, but necessary. Nelly, I am Heathcliff! He's always, always in my mind: not as a pleasure, any more than I am always a pleasure to myself, but as my own being."

And there he goes breaking part of her heart. He is quoting her favorite novel.

Stupid Stiles and Stupid Bronte and Stupid Wuthering Heights! Sometimes she would quote it to him when she was over at his house and he was asleep. It was tragic and heartbreaking and no one lived happily ever after and it was just like them.

Erica begins to sob and he had to go and say that. It is still not those three words she wants but it may be as close as she will ever get because he is dying damn it and she still wants and needs him.

After what feels like hours she makes a choice.

She thinks about her children when she does the deed. She is doing this for them as well. Stiles is closer to them than their own father and they need him she needs him.

This is what she tells herself when Derek enters the room and sees the bite mark on Stiles' neck and the red eyes staring back at him across the room from the newly turned werewolf.

Erica knows in that moment that she has changed everything. And in that moment she does not care. She has her children in her lap chattering away at Stiles who himself will live. Now she just has to live with the consequences.

Boyd leaves her the next day and tries to take the kids but she nearly rips out his throat when he tries. When he leaves to go to work Erica takes all of their things, pack up her truck, and moves everything into the Stilinski house. The boys take the guest room and Erica moves into Stiles' childhood room. Two weeks later he has moved back into his father's house. Later that night when the Sheriff takes the boys out to Stiles tells her that he broke up with Derek the day she came to the hospital. Erica tries to respond by soon Stiles roughly covers her mouth with his own and pushes her up against the wall. Hours later the room smells of sex and want and after their passionate love making she is tracing lines on his lean and toned and surprising muscular chest. He says nothing but keep her hand in his own with their fingers laced together. She makes her choice then. He is her Alpha and light and life. He always has been and always will be. She has him and her children. What more could she need?

Erica Reyes has created a divide in Beacon Hills. Having bitten Stiles who turned into an Alpha she has divided the packs in half. Lydia and Scott have all conjugated into the Stilinski house with their two year old daughter and Stiles has formally declared it his territory. Derek Hale is swearing revenge and nursing a broken heart over a man who tossed away nearly ten years so he could say goodbye to a woman whom was married to another man without having a guilty conscience. Boyd has not seen the children and is heartbroken when he receives a call saying both of his children saw him hit their mother the day he tried to take them and that neither want anything to do with him. Isaac is at a loss at which side to choose while Jackson and Danny stay with Derek because they think he will win the upcoming struggle. None of them know how this will end. But all anyone knows is that none of them should have ever doubted the bond between Erica Reyes and Stiles Stilinski.

Erica Reyes is standing on the edge of the mountain lake watching as her family places together. Her sons are playing with Stiles while his father is watching from the shoreline. Her life is good right now but it is still a work in progress. Stiles still can't say those words, the Sheriff is wary around her, Lydia is pregnant, Scott is as clueless as well, Stiles is still in love with his best friend, her sons are starting to draw closer to Stiles and resent her, Boyd is still trying to take the boys and Derek has threatened to kill her for taking away his happiness. But Stiles will at random whisper quotes from Wuthering Heights and the Sheriff treats her boys like his own grandchildren and Lydia and herself are surprisingly getting along. She has Stiles in her bed and heart and soul and life while her children are in the next room over. It is not a happy ending. But it is the right one. No she thinks as she rubs her hand over her rounded belly under which she hopes is a girl cradled in her womb. It is not the ending. It is the beginning of something more. And no matter what happens she is never letting go of any of it. Stiles turns and smiles at her. She smiles back. Even after all of these years it still lights up her life. She would never have it any other way.

_This is the story of Erica Reyes and Stiles Stilinski. Well, the first part of it anyways. It is not quite over yet. Battles will be fought, lives ended, blood spilt, lives born, bonds tested, and choices made. But at the end of it all one thing will never change; Catwoman will always love her Batman. _

_**((***************_**this is a ploy bunny that I got carried away with. Let me know if it is crap or good or if you want a sequel. R&R. ~Weaver****))**


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